Obama expected to push gun control in second term

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

With President Obama's final election behind him, gun-control advocates said they expect the White House to begin pushing through an assortment of gun restrictions in coming months.

Obama rarely talked about guns during his re-election campaign, and when he did, it was mostly to reassure voters he had no plans to take away their constitutionally protected firearms.

The president has been preoccupied with negotiations over a deficit-reduction deal since last month's election, but activists said they expect Obama to become a much more vocal proponent of gun control in 2013. On their wish list is a ban on assault weapons, mandatory background checks for gun buyers and the closing of private-sale loopholes.

"I expect President Obama to take the lead on closing the gaping hole in our 'system' for keeping guns from criminals, underage youth and other prohibited persons," Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, said. "The federal government's failure to require all gun sellers to verify that prospective gun owners have passed a background check before transferring a firearm is the single biggest flaw in the current system."